The best trackball arcade game? In the early 80’s we were at the height of the nuclear arms race, and the Doomsday clock representing our proximity to a nuclear war between the west and the Soviet Union was at 11:57. Released at the start of the escalation in 1980, Missile Command was a game that…
Battlezone: The Original Tank Game Battlezone was a truly unforgettable game from the early days of the arcades, that saw you in control of a tank in a 3D battle against enemy vehicles and space ships, set in a dali-esque landscape of cubes and pyramids. Battlezone used wireframe vector graphics technology, the same technology that…
Introduction to Gradius Few games have left as lasting an impact on the shoot ’em up (shmup) genre as Gradius. Released by Konami in 1985, this arcade classic redefined side-scrolling shooters with its innovative power-up system, intense difficulty, and unforgettable soundtrack. It spawned multiple sequels, and was released on multiple home consoles and computers, with…
The space themed Laserdisc sequel to Dragon’s Lair It was a wet summer holiday in 1984 and I was with my cousin in an arcade on Canvey Island in Essex. Frankie Goes to Hollywood was in the Top 10 with “Two Tribes”, and the famous fight scene between Reagan and Chernenko was blasting out of…
The BBC micro has some passionate fans, but it never really managed to generate the sort of passion reserved for some of the more popular home computers of the early 80’s such as the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Maybe it was the association with the BBC, maybe the fact that it was used in schools, perhaps…
After dusting off my work in progress MAME cabinet, following a hiatus of about 6 years, I’m determined to get the job completed. After a quick parts inventory I found I actually had most of the bits and pieces I need lying around the house, so set to work. Cabinet painting The cabinet itself was…
